January 2018 garden time A Digital Monthly Magazine for Your Garden & Home

New Winter Jewels

Purple Vegetables Neighborhood Parks TIMBER PRESS'S

Helleborus 'Anna's Red' Tom Fischer Check out more Garden Time at www.gardentime.tv 1 2 Dealing with the Winter Drought IN THIS ISSUE The holidays are over and now the winter drought begins. I know that the general definition of a drought is a lack of rain or moisture, which we get sometimes in the winter, ask mortimer....pg. 4 but it can also mean a drought of a different kind too. For some it is the actual lack of water for those under your eaves that don’t get the moisture from the winter New Hellebores rains, but for others it is the drought of things to do out- side in the garden. Those cold and dreary days leave a lot of gardeners in limbo. There is not much to do if you have already done your winter pruning, cleaning and spraying. There is also the drought of ideas. We look for things to got to have it....pg. 6 think about when it comes to gardening. Jumping from magazine to magazine, seed catalog to catalog, looking for ideas for the upcoming season. Still, after you Rain Barrels have read all the articles and circled all the pictures, what do you do with the rest of your time?

Just like the drought in the summer, there are things you can do to combat this ‘dry’ period. Indoor plants are a start. Your gardening is not limited to the outside and summer. backyard....pg. 10 Buy a few new plants and actively cultivate them indoors! Try something new and different to grow your knowledge of plants. Then share that knowledge, or plants, with oth- Neighborhood Parks ers. Watch the patterns of the winter winds, your plants and the local wildlife and then make plans to change your garden during the coming season to accommodate that flora and fauna for next year. Then, take a walk around your garden to enjoy the small things that are happening adventures....pg. 14 now. This month we help you with some of those ‘dry’ days. I Purple Vegetables share some tips about indoor plants, including how they add color and texture to your home, how easy they are to take care of and how they can help create a cleaner and healthier indoor environment too. If you are looking for winter plants for your garden, Therese found some newer varieties of Hellebores that you will want to try, including eats....pg. 20 some from the Gold Collection that work well in our gar- dens. Another, more tangible, way of avoiding droughts, is Tom Fischer with a rain barrel. William checks out some of the reasons why rain barrels are a good choice for the home gardener. We also have an article about saving water for emergen- cies in your home with a story on the 14 Gallon Challenge.

So, even if you are experiencing a drought in your winter hortie....pg. 28 garden or just your attitude, there is no lack of things to do. 14 Gallon Challenge Happy Gardening!

Jeff Gustin, Publisher

Garden Time Magazine • January 2018 • Volume 10, No. 1, Issue #106 Garden Time Magazine is published monthly by Gustin Creative Group, home....pg. 32 17554 SW Mardee, Lake Oswego, OR 97035. Jeff Gustin, President. ©2018 Gustin Creative Group, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Customer january garden tips....pg. 36 Service: If you are experiencing difficulty receiving the e-mail notifica- tion for this magazine, please contact us at [email protected]. Subscriptions: For a free subscription to this magazine, please fill out the form available on the Garden Time website, at www.gardentime.tv. gardening events....pg. 40

Check out more Garden Time at www.gardentime.tv 3 Dear Mortimer,

I had a problem with fruit flies during the summer in my house and now they seem to be coming back, even though I don’t have fresh fruit and veggies from my garden. They seem to have white wings. Where are they coming from?

Signed, Bugged in Beaverton

Dear Bugged,

These winter pests may not be fruit flies! I think I know what you are battling, white flies. Insect problems on your indoor plants are not unusual. White flies and oth- er pests live under the leaves of your plants and could have made the journey inside when you brought your plants inside from the deck or patio after the summer. The soil in these plants can also house many pests and diseases, including mites, scale and even aphids. If they are white flies you would see them in larger con- centrations around your houseplants. If you are not into chemicals you can use an insecticidal soap. You can also remove the top inch of soil from your plant and replace it with a good ‘packaged’ garden soil. These have usually been tested for bugs and diseases. Wipe down the plant and use a natural remedy. If you don’t mind chemicals, then use a systemic insect con- trol, or continue to wipe down the plant on a weekly basis.

Meal Moth

Mortimer answers selected questions and comments every month in Garden Time Magazine. To send him your question, email [email protected] ask mortimer

4 Dear Mortimer,

I burn wood in a woodstove for heat in the winter and I heard that you can spread the ashes in your garden. Is that true?

Signed, Tons of Ashes in Ashland

Dear Ashland,

Yes, spreading ash from burning wood is beneficial to your garden, but there are a few precautions you should think about as well.

First, wood ash is great because it is a product of plants so it contains lots of nutrients that are not consumed by the fire, like potassium, calcium and other trace el- ements. It is also slightly alkaline, so it can help with acidic soils, which we have a lot of in the Northwest. Ash Whitefly The nutritional value of the ash is dependent on the type of wood you burn as well. If you burn a hardwood you will get about three times as much ash with five times the nutrients as a softwood.

Now for the precautions. Don’t use the ash on acid lov- ing plants like blueberries, rhodies or azaleas, they love acidic soil, and only use ‘wood’ ashes in your garden or lawn! Don’t burn trash or other items and use the ashes in your garden. You should also spread wood ashes evenly on your yard. Use no more than 1.5 pounds/100 square feet/year and don't use if the soil pH is greater than 7.0 or if potassium levels are excessive.

For more information on the use of wood ashes in your garden you can check out the OSU Extension website at http://extension.oregonstate.edu/gardening.

Your friend, Mortimer

Pantry Moths

If the pests are a moth type of insect, then you might have a form of pantry or meal moth. They feed on cereals, nuts, grains and even pet food. Look for the package where they are feeding (usually a container Wood ash contains lots of nutrients. or bag that has been left open), you can usually see the worms/larvae, and get rid of them. Then place a sticky pheromone trap out for the remainder of the swarm. You can find these traps at your local garden center.

We hope you can survive the rest of the winter bug free, but if you can’t just drop us a line!

Your friend, A hardwood, like Ash, has more nutrients. Mortimer

Check out more Garden Time at www.gardentime.tv 5 Winter Jewels Add these gems to your garden and brighten up the bleary months of winter. by Therese Gustin

Helleborus 'Gold Collection Snow Fever'

In the dead of winter when the stalk. Hellebores foetidus or around the period of Lent landscape slumbers there is the Stinking is ever- they are commonly known as little to excite the somber gar- green and hardy in our area. Lenten roses. These winter dener who longs to gaze upon It has dark green leaves with hardy perennials are ever- the rainbow of colors just wait- 5 to 13 narrow leaflets which green and prefer part sun to ing to awaken in the spring! are pungent if crushed. The shady conditions making them One perennial however, that flowers are light green to red- perfect plants for woodland shines while so many others tinted. , also settings or between shrubs hide this time of year is the known as the Christmas Rose or under trees. They have Hellebore. Vibrant colors like is winter to spring flowering, short-stemmed often toothed pinks, purples, yellows, reds evergreen and boasts leaves palmate leaves and their five and whites stand out in the that are dark green, leathery petalled bowl- shaped flow- garden when most other pe- and divided into 7 to 9 leaflets. ers come in an array of colors rennials remain dormant. Its flowers have pinkish buds from yellows and apricots to opening to white with a green pinks, purples, reds, greens There are several varieties of center. and whites. Some varieties hellebores available including have petals which are spotted known By far, the most popular hel- or picoteed, others have con- as the Corsican hellebore. This lebores for garden use are trasting colors on the edges is evergreen and win- generally Helleborus orientalis of their petals and many va- ter hardy to zone 6. It has light and its colorful hybrids (H. x rieties are double-petalled. green leaves with many light hybridus). Because they nor- Even after their flowers have green flowers growing along a mally flower in early spring faded, hellebore leaves pro- got to have it

6 vide interesting structure in to market with outward facing the shade garden throughout or even upward facing flow- the year. They are also one of ers. Now those of us who don’t the rare perennials that is deer have gardens on hillsides can resistant. They like soil evenly experience the beauty of these moist. They can tolerate some winter jewels. drought but may need a drink if it is an especially dry summer. I discovered four newer variet- To best show off the flowers in ies on the market at Portland the winter and early spring you Nursery. can prune off the older tattered leaves. Helleborus argutifolius Gold Collection® There has been quite a bit of ‘Snow Fever’ work done with breeders in re- This variegated leaved variety cent years to make improve- grows 6-12” high remaining a ments to flower color, foliage compact yet vigorous grower. and stem color and even the Mottled green and white foli- orientation of the flower. Many age emerges with purple over- hellebore flowers face down- tones and produces creamy ward making it difficult to see green flowers. This variety is the lovely patterns and colors gorgeous in the garden even inside the flowers. In years without any flowers. past hellebores were recom- mended for hillsides and raised Helleborus Gold beds in order to appreciate the Collection® 'Jesko' beauty of the interior of the This Hellebous niger variety flowers. Over the years more has large white blooms with and more varieties have come overlapping petals that emerge

Helleborus Gold Collection 'Jesko'

Check out more Garden Time at www.gardentime.tv 7 Helleborus x lemonnierii 'Madame Lemonnier'

in early winter. It has evergreen, glossy, deep green foliage and a very compact growth habit. It reaches a height of 10”.

Helleborus x lemonnierii ‘Madame Lemonnier’ This hybrid Lenten rose has large upward fac- ing pinkish red flowers from mid-winter to early spring. It is a cross between the Christ- mas rose, Helleborus niger with the common- ly grown Helleborus x hybridus. This variety grows to 18” - 24” tall.

Helleborus ‘Anna’s Red’ This cross between , Helle- borus niger, and Helleborus x hybridus boasts gorgeous 12-16” high single pink to deep bur- gundy red flowers in spring. Its marbled foliage with a pink tinge and red stems add to its year- round interest.

Check out your favorite independent nursery this time of year and see what gems you can add to your garden that will brighten up the Helleborus 'Anna's Red' bleary months of winter.

8 1 Hellebore before leaf removal

PRUNING YOUR HELLEBORE 2 Pruning old leaves from a hellebore

3 Hellebore after old leaf removal

Check out more Garden Time at www.gardentime.tv 9 Rain Check

Now both fashionable and functional, rain barrels allow us to save water and money.

by William McClenathan backyard

1010 It never was odd for humans throughout history to search for and collect water.

Water is one of the very few es- sentials we humans require to not just survive, but to thrive.

We cannot go long without it, only a few days at most.

So the desire to make sure po- table water is readily available is one of our prime objectives.

In the past we created cisterns, dug wells, lived by rivers, built dams on those rivers but finally we created a way water could be piped to almost every household in America.

But still our desire to collect wa- ter remains.

This concept works well for most of America as they tend to have collectable rain water at some time in most of the year. We in the Willamette Valley tend to have a yearly drought.

We call it summer.

It is also the time of year when we require more water, and yet, we have hardly any rain falling, so there is no way to collect it from rainfall.

This had been my argument against rain barrels since I moved here back in 1996.

Until this year.

That is when we had the good fortune of doing a story on Gar- den Time. (Here it is to refresh your memory, in case you have forgotten or have never seen that episode). https://youtu. be/9rPfmjLCWXI

What this story did for me was to broaden my concept of what a rain barrel is. Once that occurred, I was able to see how I did not have to limit my idea of rain col- lection to just one barrel. I could in fact daisy chain many together. If done correctly, this might even

Check out more Garden Time at www.gardentime.tv 11 cover an entire summer with- from rain barrels in a garden. out rain and assist in con- trolling not only my monthly Certainly, there should be water bill, but making sure I a faucet at the base of the also do not enhance the bur- barrel. Most manufactured den of watering my gardens barrels have those. And if at a time when water usage you raise the barrel off of the in Portland soars higher. ground by a cinder block or two high, gravity will take This then became a win for care of the rest for filling a everyone involved. watering can.

• The cost of my monthly bill. The great thing here is that a drip system or soaker hose • The use of water in high will also use this low grav- usage times of the year. ity concept. Generally, a 55 gallon rain barrel using only • The ability to maintain a gravity for dispersion of the healthy garden in summer. water can reach out about 20 And fortunately the rain bar- feet. rel industry has come up with I have made the mistake more attractive barrels too. of thinking I would just put No longer does one need to the rain barrels up really hide them behind something, high. While this did extend although that is still an easy the amount of pressure for way to cover the less attrac- dispersion, it limited the abil- tive barrels. ity of collection of the rain because I went too high and I should also talk a little bit the gutters were below the about how to use the water top of my barrels. Learn from

12 my well-intended, but foolish mistakes!

You would need a pump to fill the rain barrels, which kind of removes the entire concept of being ‘green’ for this process.

There is a science behind this entire process. And although I fancy myself a smart guy, I eventually just went to those who actually understand it all and talked with them.

Several garden centers carry a selection of rain barrels. Just call the one you love and ask them if they have rain barrels in stock.

And of course you can al- ways contact the company which we interviewed at www.gradybarrels.com for more information on cre- ating a system for your own home and garden and the best, most efficient way to disperse the water for your usage. Also where you can 1500 gallon rain catchment purchase their barrels.

9000 gallon rain catchment

Check out more Garden Time at www.gardentime.tv 13 Local Phenomenon Thanks to a plethora of neighborhood parks, you don't have to go far to get away from it all. by Ron Dunevant

Columbia Park in North Portland features tall evergreen trees. PHOTO CREDIT: RON DUNEVANT

Life in the Pacific Northwest - of budget, these pleasures may The impetus of the urban park fers benefits that few other come but once or twice a year. can be traced back more than geographical areas can boast. However, we do have the good two centuries, thanks to the In- Though most of us reside in a fortune of being able to enjoy dustrial Revolution. In 1790, only massive metropolis, buzzing ur- the richness of this land through one-in-twenty Americans lived ban area or sprawling suburb, we something a little closer to home: in urban areas, a.k.a. cities. By still live within a short distance of our neighborhood parks. In the 1870, that number had increased dozens of natural wonders: ma- Portland Metro Area alone, you to one-in-four. It climbed to 50 jestic mountain ranges, the swirl- will find hundreds of city and percent in 1920, over 60 per- ing Pacific Ocean, national - for county parks, greenways, open cent in the 1960s and now, in the ests, scenic rivers and lakes, the spaces, wildlife refuges, hiking new millennium, four out of five beautiful Columbia Gorge and so trails, picnic areas, rest areas, people in the U.S. live in an ur- much more. We are also treated and waysides. In fact, the odds ban area. The result is that most to numerous well-known parks are great that you have one of of us spend our time, outside of and gardens, such as The Oregon these urban oases within walking vacations, within the confines of Garden, Washington Park, Forest distance of your house or apart- cement facades, paved arterials Park and The International Rose ment. and towering structures. As our Test Garden, to name just a few. country’s makeup has changed Many of these destinations have As a destination, city parks are from predominantly agrarian and been featured on the pages of often overlooked in favor of their rural to industrial and urban, the Garden Time Magazine and make grander, more promoted cousins, need to “get away from it all” has for a wonderful family getaway or but they are just as vital to the become more and more vital. extended vacation. health of an urban area. In fact, the larger the metropolis, the Along the way, this lifestyle For those of us with limited time, more important the role of these change necessitated the creation finite resources or a constrained hidden gems. of areas in which workers could adventures 14 relax, unwind and decompress. Going back to the late 1800s, city governments purchased large tracts of land to create what was referred to as “pleasure grounds,” open, landscaped areas that would allow Where Will a city residents to enjoy nature and take a break from their daily toil. As cities expanded beyond the confines Capitol Subaru of these grounds, these parks were upgraded to in- clude zoos, museums and golf courses. Take You? Then, in the first decades of the 20th century,- cit ies began to build neighborhood parks with swimming pools, playgrounds and civic buildings. The hope was that, by creating spaces that everyone could share, the burgeoning immigrant population would have an easier time adapting to their new country.

After World War II, as G.I.s returned from combat and settled in to new homes and better jobs, parks set their focus on both outdoor and indoor recreation. This led to the formation of sports leagues to take advantage of new ball fields and gymnasia. Residen- Local Events tial neighborhoods were the beneficiaries of smaller parks, which introduced programs for children, adults January 2018 and senior citizens. Kid’s Club: Create an Indoor Terrarium Saturday, January 6, 2018 • 11:00am In the 1960s and ‘70s, as populations increased and Al's Garden & Home, Woodburn, OR land prices climbed, parks became smaller, tucked Create a mini garden to enjoy and care for in- into housing developments, featuring a smaller green doors. These beautiful little gardens will be created space and, sometimes, a children's playground. with an assortment of houseplants and/or succu- lents. We will add the finishing touches with some surprise accents... come to class to discover more. As you are no doubt aware, this trend toward urban- • www.alsgardencenter.com ization has continued. As of 2010, 81% of Oregon’s population and 84% of Washington’s population live in Portland Nursery Annual Houseplant Sale urban areas. If you drive in the phenomenon we call January 11-24, 2018 • Store Hours “rush hour,” then you have experienced this change: Portland Nursery (Division & Stark), Portland, OR more people, more cars, less space and less time to 30% off all houseplants and decorative pots. Purchase enjoy life’s simple pleasures. Now, more than ever, we a plant and a pot and get a free Pot-Up! Indoor gar- need to disengage, and the neighborhood park is the dening classes all month long. See the Houseplant perfect solution. Sale Page for images from previous years or go to our Houseplant Page for more general information. You are probably aware of, if not familiar with, your • www.portlandnursery.com nearest neighborhood park or green space. Perhaps O-Shogatsu, Japanese New Year you went there as a child or you take your children Sunday, January 14, 2018 • Gardem Hours there today. You may have fond memories of swing Portland Japanese Garden, Portland, OR sets, teeter-totters, slides and baseball fields. Maybe Festivities will include an authentic tea ceremony, you dash through one on your morning jog or make calligraphy demonstration, and koto harp perfor- a pit stop while walking the dog. But, if you haven’t mance. Take a stroll around the Garden where you spent a sunny summer Saturday or a warm spring will see kadomatsu affixed to the pillars. Included afternoon enjoying these urban oases, you’re miss- with Garden Admission. ing something. You may not even be aware that there • www.japanesegarden.org are dozens, even hundreds within walking or driving distance of your home or office.

The amenities offered by these areas are vast, with activities that range from quiet contemplation to uber-athleticism. You will find picnic areas, tennis courts, baseball fields, basketball courts, boat ramps, dog runs, football and soccer fields, fountains, horse- shoe pits, natural areas, playgrounds, bike and hik- ing paths, roller skating, skate parks, flower gardens, rock climbing walls, equestrian trails, statues, public

Check out more Garden Time at www.gardentime.tv 15 art, breathtaking vistas, serene lakes, rushing rivers and swim- ming pools.

Sound like the answer to a prayer? It is, and thanks to modern tech- nology, finding the perfect venue is as close as your smart phone or computer. For instance, go to the Parks & Recreation page of the City of Portland website (www. portlandoregon.gov). There, you will find a searchable list of over 300 parks, gardens and natural areas run by the city. You can cus- tomize your results by area and preferred amenities. Checkboxes Cherry Blossom trees in Tom McCall allow you to select from down- town, north, northeast, north- Waterfront Park in Downtown Portland west, southeast or southwest PHOTO CREDIT: ATUL666 VIA FLICKR Portland. From there, you have over 75 features from which you can choose, including sports facili- ties, trails, picnic areas, wedding sites, historical sites, party rooms and public gardens.

Did you know there are five parks in the Portland area that feature an indoor swimming pool? They’re spread out so one is close to al- most any area of the city. For summertime fun (or the stout of heart) there are five additional venues that offer an outdoor pool. Six offer a skate park, seven have “interactive” fountains, 17 are listed as “historical sites”, and nine provide off-leash, fenced dog Roses in Peninsula Park in North Porland areas. PHOTO CREDIT: JMCHUFF/WIKIMEDIA One thing to note is that you can- not search for two features that contradict each other. If you se- lect both “Swim Pool – Indoor” and “Swim Pool – Outdoor,” the program will return zero results – apparently no parks have both. The same is true if you click both “fenced” and “unfenced” dog ar- eas. Keeping that restriction in mind, it is still an easy way to find just what you are looking for.

If you live outside of Portland, you will find similar sites for just about any city and most counties. The Salem Park Finder (www.cityofsa- lem.net) plots the location of over 75 parks on an interactive map. Tulips in Sellwood Park in Southeast Portland Click on a park and select “view

PHOTO CREDIT: JEREMY MC WILLIAMS/WIKIMEDIA in attribute table” and you’ll see a

16 Park Place! Find information on your local parks by going to the website nearest you. For smaller cities, do a search for your city's government web- site. You're likely to find information there on all the parks under their jurisdiction. Portland www.portlandoregon.gov/parks/ Vancouver, Washington www.cityofvancouver.us/parksrec Eugene www.eugene-or.gov/185/ Playground in Fulton Park in Southwest Porland Parks-and-Open-Space Salem spreadsheet of everything Enjoy the Rhododendron www.cityofsalem.net/activities PHOTO CREDIT: ANOTHER BELIEVER/WIKIMEDIA that park offers, from lo- and Rose Gardens. Play Gresham cation to park hours to the tennis at one of the four https://greshamoregon.gov/ availability of such things lighted tennis courts. Visit Parks-and-Recreation/ as picnic areas, shelters, the Bush House Museum dog parks, trails, sports or the Bush Art Center and Hillsboro areas and restrooms. You gallery, home of the annual www.hillsboro-oregon.gov/departments/ can also view each park in- Salem Art Fair.” Everything parks-recreation dividually for a picture and you want to know, only a Beaverton detailed information. Click click away! www.beavertonoregon.gov/100/ on the link for “Bush’s Pas- Parks-Recreation ture Park,” and you’ll find The City of Vancouver web- this information: “Bush’s​ site (www.cityofvancouver. Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District Pasture Park covers 90.5 us) offers a similar experi- www.thprd.org/ acres of lush, wooded areas ence. Here again, you can Springfield and open meadows. Bring search by neighborhood, https://willamalane.org/parks/ friends for a pick-up game amenities and type. Each of ultimate Frisbee, or bring park is also featured on its Corvallis the kids to enjoy any of the own page. Click on David www.corvallisoregon.gov/parksrec playgrounds, including the Douglas Park, and you’ll Albany Crooked House Playground. learn that “this 88-acre www.cityofalbany.net/departments/ There are many trails that community park is the larg- parks-and-recreation are perfect for walking, est in the City of Vancou- jogging, or running at ver! David Douglas services Tigard whatever pace you prefer. central Vancouver as well www.tigard-or.gov/community/parks.php Lake Oswego www.ci.oswego.or.us/parksrec Oregon City www.orcity.org/parksandrecreation/ welcome-oregon-city-parks Washington County, Oregon www.co.washington.or.us Clackamas County, Oregon www.clackamas.us/parks Multnomah County, Oregon www.multnomahcountywebsite.com Clark County, Washington Skate park at Glenhaven Park www.clark.wa.gov/public-works/ in Northeast Porland clark-county-parks PHOTO CREDIT: SKATE OREGON/WIKIMEDIA

Check out more Garden Time at www.gardentime.tv 17 as the Northwood Neighborhood. The Park serves as a central gath- ering area for sporting events and community activities and is home to the Columbia Little League and many of Vancouver Parks and Recreation sports leagues.” You’ll also see the park’s hours, ameni- ties and information about youth and adult sports.

Seeing the maps that plot each of these venues makes you real- ize how many of these secluded sanctuaries there are within a few miles of any starting point. Spend just a few minutes searching and you’ll easily find what is near your Carousel at Riverfront Park in Salem location or, conversely, how far PHOTO CREDIT: M.O. STEVENS/WIKIMEDIA you will have to drive to find a particular park or amenity.

The best part? Most of these de- lights are free! As city or county facilities, your taxes pay for the upkeep, so you can go there any time with no more expense than it takes to arrive. Yes, some will have charges for swimming pools, building rentals or reservations, so be sure to find the specific in- formation for your park or activity.

It is worth noting that many of these parks also feature gor- geous trees, flowers, bushes and animals. Peninsula Park in North Portland offers a gorgeous rose garden. Just a couple of miles Geese in Maurie Jacobs Park in Eugene away, you can commune with the PHOTO CREDIT: RICK OBST/WIKIMEDIA squirrels and stroll among tow- ering evergreen trees in Colum- bia Park. Tom McCall Waterfront Park in downtown has a gorgeous display of Cherry Blossom trees, as does Cherry Blossom Park (of course) in southeast Portland. Nearby Laurelhurst Park is famous for its duck pond. Tualatin Com- munity Park gives visitors access to the scenic Tualatin River. These areas and hundreds more are a perfect combination of urban sen- sibility and rural beauty.

So, next time you have a free hour, take a trip to your neighbor- hood park. It’s a great opportu- nity to get out in nature and enjoy The Tualatin River in Tualatin Community Park the scenery, just steps from your

PHOTO CREDIT: RON DUNEVANT own backyard.

18 Check out more Garden Time at www.gardentime.tv 19 The Color Purple

by William McClenathan Fresh Ube (Purple Yam)

Are you some- An (Incomplete) List of Purple Vegetables one who in- Peppers • Currants • Cherries • Artichokes stantly thinks of Kale •Belgian Endive •Radicchio •Broccoli eggplant when Basil • Carrots • Garlic • Leaf Lettuce

asked about pur- Purple fruits and vegetables In researching information for ple vegetables? I are sought after by health- this article, one newer variety conscious consumers as the to America jumped out at me. know I am. And vibrant color indicates a natu- It is Dioscorea alata. The pur- while eggplants rally high presence of health ple yam or Ube... pronounced enhancing anti­oxidants. “oo-beh”. are well known, From purple potatoes and car- A tuberous root vegetable that and some are rots, to purple cabbage and has natural bright, lavender indeed purple, black currents, the list of pur- color. Hence the name purple ple fruits and vegetables pro- yam. It can sometimes appear there are several vides plenty of nutritional cre- to be white, and is often con- vegetables and dentials in their vibrant hues. fused with other tubers like They are not only limited to taro and sweet potatoes. Ube fruits which have adding color to a dish, they is abundant in many differ- also help you improve your ent Asian cuisines. It has been purple varieties health when you choose to in- widely used in the Philippines, clude them in your diet. where its affinity with sugar eats as well. 20 and honey has made it a common ingredient in many local desserts.

With a taste profile that’s described as anywhere between an earthy, white chocolate-flavored sweet potato to a vanilla-scented pistachio nut, Ube has steadily been creeping onto the menus of trendy US restaurants because of its unique shades of purple. Inspirational photos on many Instagram accounts have also brought Ube a lot of attention.

Leave it to American ingenuity to take this amaz- ing food to a different level.

For example, the Golden Cristal Donut from Brooklyn, New York’s ‘Manila Social Club’. Purple Sprouting Broccoli The obscenely expensive donut (one costs $100.00 and a dozen will set you back $1,200.00) is made with Cristal champagne and Ube mousse batter, and then covered in gold flakes. While it’s certainly a show-stopper, the eatery’s real star is its standard, fuss-free Ube donut called Ube Bae. Dozens of them are produced every week and they are consistently sold out. Some- times, there’s even a three-week waiting period for them. There is also a Manila Social Club in Miami.

Many restaurants which are not Asian are now making things from Ube as well. From waffles to pies and of course one of America’s favorites… ice cream.

Nowadays, the humble, violet tuber is the un- Purple Carrots orthodox star of quite a few Western dishes, suggesting that Filipinos are no longer the only ones craving it.

Here is the big question for me though. Can we grow Ube here in our area?

Those of us who have tried to grow yams in the PNW have had varied success but many failures. Similar to sweet potatoes, they love warm soil while growing. And although we do get warm soil, this group of tropical and sub-tropical plants tends to need a longer warm stretch then nature can provide here for consistent produc- tion of produce.

I have had some success when planting sweet potatoes in very large black containers setting on concrete driveways in full sun. But even Purple Garlic sometimes in cooler summers, those crops have not produced well.

CheckCheck outout moremore GardenGarden TimeTime atat www.gardentime.tvwww.gardentime.tv 21 This has given me hope that I may be able to grow the purple yam here successfully.

My good friend Riz Reyes posted this interesting blog about Ube.

http://nextgenerationgardener.blogspot. com/2012/02/ode-to-purple-yam-we- call-ube.html

I have tried to find a local place to buy the plants for next spring with no avail, except on Amazon. I am a man of suspicion though and was not confident these were the actual Ube plants at all.

I would think that if you can find the yam in Purple Cauliflower a market, you should be able to start it grow- ing. Do not be fooled by the seller saying what they have is actually Ube. Very often, sweet po- tatoes are sold as yams. They are very differ- ent botanically, although they do have similar sweetness in flavor. And both yams and sweet potatoes have members of their families which are purple.

While this may not be a successful endeavor in our area, when has that ever stopped us rabid gardeners from trying something new and dif- ferent?

There is no doubt that purple sweet potatoes have gained popularity over the past year. But not all varieties of purple sweet potatoes are created equal. Blule-Purple Phytonutrients In my research to demystify some of this confu- sion, I found this informative website.

http://www.friedas.com/the-ultimate- purple-sweet-potato-guide/

‘The three main types of purple flesh sweet po- tatoes consumed in the U.S. are Stokes Purple® sweet potatoes, Okinawan sweet potatoes, and Ube (pronounced OO-beh). Consumers—and even food writers—often confuse these three because of skin or flesh color, different names, and even because the Internet shows confusing images. As a matter of fact, one of them is not even a sweet potato at all but a true yam. (And no, a yam is not the same as a sweet potato ei- ther, but that’s a whole other story.)

Purple Potatoes The three different pictures can clearly show their differences.

22 Purple Ube Yam as it grows underground.

Check out more Garden Time at www.gardentime.tv 23 Purple Sweet Potatoes

Packaged Ube

Purple Sweet Potatoes Golden Cristal Champaigne Donut

Ube Bae Manila Fubonn Shopping Center Social Donuts

24 One of the other differences is that Ipomea (sweet potato) tends to crawl on the ground or hang from a basket.

Whereas Dioscorea alata (purple yam) would really prefer to climb. The small yams which grow on the vine are called bulbils and can be harvested in the fall for next year’s ‘seeds’.

It is a perennial, so in the topical zones it is na- tive to, it will die down in the late fall or early winter but return the following year. That is also the time it is dug and harvested.

And the size of yams can be extremely large. Some tubers have been over 6 feet long in ground. The purple yam tends to not be so ag- gressive. The vine itself can be large as well, Okinawan Sweet Potato growing upwards of 15 feet in one growing sea- son.

They also, once established, do not require much attention or care.

From a guy in Florida, I found this website offer- ing a lot of information and some good informa- tion on growing them. www.thesurvivalgardener.com/ purple-ube-yams

But! Here is what I did find which you can pur- chase right in our area!

The Fubonn Shopping Center does carry the Ube ice cream. http://www.fubonn.com/

Also the way most people cook with Ube is to Purple Yam, underground buy it already processed. The Ube that is used widely comes as a jam (Ube Halaya) or in a powder, extract, or frozen form. It turns out that preparing this true yam is labor intensive and that is why they’re commonly available in pro- cessed form.

Joyfully, I can tell you that the Ube Halaya jam for cooking and baking use is sold at Uwajimaya in Beaverton. http://www.uwajimaya.com/stores/ beaverton

But sadly, I could find no place yet in our area which sells the plants or the yam itself. As soon as I do I will let you know.

Do keep your eye on this beautiful plant and A three-foot-long yam beautiful purple vegetable. I suspect it is much more than just a trend on Instagram.

Check out more Garden Time at www.gardentime.tv 25 Air B & B (Beauty & Benefits) Adding indoor plants to your living space is a boon to the eyes and the lungs. by Jeff Gustin

Indoor plants are an overlooked group! Most people think that they are limited to a set of bor- ing, basic green plants! Oh, but there are so many more choices out there, and there are many reasons why the gardener should look inside for winter interest plants to shake those winter dol- drums!

First of all, indoor plants are not just about boring green foliage! There are many plants that can add color and texture to your home. Foliage alone can be di- verse and exciting! Take the cro- ton. Pinks, golds, yellows, orang- es and reds all appear in various varieties of this plant’s leaves. The indoor plant area at Portland Nursery There are also cordylines, cole- PHOTOS THIS PAGE CREDIT: PORTLAND NURSERY us, palms and cycads to choose months at a time! The best thing clude Aloe Vera (whose sap is also from. There are also numerous is to find a place where you want good for cuts and burns), peace plants from your summer garden a plant and then find a plant that lily, spider plant and the Boston that can be grown indoors that in- fits that area. I’m pretty sure that Fern. They will also maintain the clude begonias and violets. And a visit to a local garden center will moisture in your home and regu- who can resist those weird com- provide you with many choices to late the temperature as well. mon names? Prayer plant, Moth- choose from. er-in-laws-tongue, rosary plant Another benefit of these plants is and Purple Passion Plant! More Tips for indoor care include the that they are also readily available than enough to brighten those regular checking of soil for mois- at most of your local independent darkest days. Plus the textures ture, watering when completely garden centers. There are lots of go from broad shiny leaves to dry, to rotation so the plant gets indoor plant sales in January as pointy spikes! equal exposure to light on all well. One of the biggest and best sides, and then checking for pests is at Portland Nursery on Division Indoor plants can also be hardy, and diseases, and treating when (they also have a great selection easy to care for and very forgiv- you see them. at their Stark Street store). They ing! The one thing that people do have a huge selection of great is sometimes ‘love their plants to Indoor plants can also benefit plants to choose from. death’! That means too much your health, more than just look- water, fertilizer or pruning. A ing pretty and making you feel So your green thumb doesn’t have lot of indoor plants just need the good! Numerous plants can cap- to take a break during the winter, occasional watering (with good ture and isolate pollutants in your just add a few plants indoors and drainage), decent temperatures home. NASA, the National Aero- enjoy the many benefits of being and some sunlight. Some people nautics and Space Administration, a ‘year-round’ gardener. think of temperamental orchids has come up with 10 indoor plants and touchy poinsettias when that can improve your indoor air List of NASA Clean Air Plants they talk about indoor plants, but quality! These plants can isolate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ there are some that can exist and those pollutants and also create NASA_Clean_Air_Study oxygen. Some of these plants in- special feature survive even in a dark closet for

26 Coleus Cordyline PHOTO CREDIT: FOREST AND KIM STARR/FLICKR PHOTO CREDIT: JIM THE PHOTOGRAPHER/FLICKR

Croton Sago Palm PHOTO CREDIT: MEKNITS/FLICKR PHOTO CREDIT: DUMINDA PLUMWARDENA/FLICKR

Check out more Garden Time at www.gardentime.tv 27 The Timbre of His Voice

Timber Press's Tom Fischer perceives gardening not as a pastime or a hobby, but as a teacher.

by William McClenathan

Tom Fischer

Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate inclusion of life in the garden to professional gardeners were Dictionary defines Horticulture the construction of landscapes either Scottish or Irish. Of those as: the science and art of grow- to the botanical study of names people who had large estates ing fruits, vegetables, flowers, or which define the plants we love, back then, they all knew that ornamental plants. we depend on books for constant to have a beautiful garden you information and inspiration on should hire an Irishman for the The key to me in this definition the joy we find in gardening. job. are the words science and art. Those two words define and pro- So it makes sense we would These estates were the private vide the inclusion of countless choose Tom to kick off this new world of the wealthy and their people who interact with plants year in the garden. beauty always included a great which include design, landscape, gardener. food, beverages, tools and… And what a story Tom’s life is. books. Gardening runs in his family. Tom’s grandfather also worked in horticulture with the Highway I needed to make sure I under- Tom’s passion for gardening Department maintaining the stood what the word meant, as began long before he was born, miles of grounds which are still this month’s Horti is Tom Fischer going all the way back to his to this day in many places filled of Timber Press. So let’s find out grandfather. The son of immi- with plants. Here in our area we what is beneath the cover of the grants from Ireland, his grand- use roses. All of those plantings Book titled, Tom Fischer. father ran an estate garden in still require some form of main- Yonkers, New York. tenance to remain constantly We who adore gardening real- beautiful. ize the grand value of books and An interesting note here is that gardening. From the spiritual back then, a vast majority of For Tom, his passion for nature hortie 28 inspired to study English because of a teacher in High School.

But it was a professor at Haver- ford where his first passion to grow something which was un- familiar to him came from. This professor grew Orchids.

Tom became enthralled with orchids and soon all free spaces in his dorm room were filled with orchids.

After moving to Chicago for graduate school, Tom became a regular customer of Orchids by Hausermann, in Villa Park, Illi- nois. While there he moved into his first rental. Finally he had some space with which to actu- Some of Tom's many horticulture books. ally garden outdoors. He asked the landlord if he could. They said yes and this became the begin- ning of Tom’s love of all things perennial.

Tom spent eight years as a man- uscript editor at the University of Chicago Press before moving to Boston and his job at Beacon Press. He was asked to apply for the job at Beacon by a former U. of C. press colleague who had preceded him to Boston.

Tom was ready to begin his life.

Never one to be shy, Tom ap- proached Beacon Press to ask to work there. They hired him, and one of the first things he did was Tom's grandfather, Thomas Mahoney clean up and redo a small court- (second from the right.) yard garden. After four years at Beacon Press, he was hired as an editor at Horticulture magazine, and gardening began with his which at the time was still based mother who was an avid gar- in Boston. To this day, there is a dener. hardbound collection of Horticul- ture in his office at Timber Press. His first, ‘take your breath away’ moment was when his family was His time at Horticulture magazine living in Hastings-on-Hudson, took a direction which included New York. He saw a small patch giving garden tours worldwide. of blooming Virginia Bluebells He loved this aspect of his job. (Mertensia virginica) and he fell Not only because of visiting the in love. gardens, but also because of the interaction with other gardeners Tom went to college at Haverford who would accompany him. Tom Tom at age 3 where he studied and received realized from this experience he his degree in English. Tom was would never be truly happy if he

Check out more Garden Time at www.gardentime.tv 29 Tom's back garden in the spring.

did not find a way to bring gardening into his career.

His tenure at Horticulture lasted from 1990 until 2004. Things were changing there and Tom felt the need to move on.

He had visited Portland before and heard about Timber Press. Once again, polite but never shy Tom, went there and asked about working for them. His persistence paid off. They interviewed him and he was hired as an Editor.

So, in 2004, Tom moved to Portland to begin his new job at Timber Press and to begin his new gar- dens in the Pacific Northwest. He was quick to point out that he was going from a zone 6 to a zone 8. His delight knew no bounds!

Currently Tom has the title of Acquisitions Editor. Basically, he searches for new authors, new ideas and new concepts in the world of gardening.

Tom does not perceive gardening as a pastime or a Iris plants in Tom's front garden. hobby but rather as a teacher; showing those who will pay attention to how Nature works and in doing that, how the world itself works, the interaction of all organisms.

The biggest thing though is how we interact with other humans as the desire to love and understand gardening causes us, by the very nature of Nature itself, to interact with other people.

Proof that he indeed is doing a job well designed for his unique and qualified skills.

Virginia blue bells He also is superb at writing as well. You'll find an example on the next page.

30 Here is an article written by Tom. With his permission, I will share a few excerpts from www.hardyplantsociety.org/ it. You may also read the entire article at quarterly-magazine The Hardy Plant Society website if you are a member. If not, it is a grand reason to join!

Why I Garden In my younger years as a gardener, I wanted to by Tom Fischer own all this beauty—to grow every plant that caught my fancy. But more and more these (First published in the Hardy Plant Society days, I am content to know simply that it exists, of Oregon Quarterly, Summer 2017) somewhere in the world. I don’t want to own it anymore, but I do want to protect it. In fact, the preservation of our few remaining wild places Another way of putting it is, “Why I engage in this seems to me now an absolute imperative. crazy behavior that regularly pits me against the whims of a capricious climate, has prompted me The wider world. Gardening is about connections: to spend untold thousands of dollars over four with nature, with other gardeners, with one’s decades, has filled much of my brain with Latin neighborhood, city, and country, with the entire plant names, and has been singularly unkind to cosmos, for all I know. Working in the garden has my lower back.” So let’s begin. brought me into intimate contact with scores of creatures, creeping, skittering, slithering, flying, Variety and complexity. The fascination of the - all of them fascinating and worthy of study. The plant world is inexhaustible. When it comes to bo- great rock gardener and writer Geoffrey Charles- tanical love affairs, I must confess to being some worth once said that a garden would be worth what slutty. But what ecstasy has flowed from cultivating for the spiders it contains. I agree. each one of these delirious entanglements! There was the blue bliss of delphiniums, gentians, and Gardening has brought me some of my most penstemons; the rainbow rapture of Pacific Coast precious friendships. Whenever I’m tempted to spuria, and aril-bred irises; the splendid splurge conclude that humanity is a botched experiment, of salvias. And currently there’s the infectious I think about the generosity and kindness I’ve infatuation with agapanthus. Each of these epi- encountered among gardeners and I repent my sodes has been enriching—educating me about harsh judgment. how plants interact with their surroundings, refin- ing my eye for color and combinations. I am not a religious person, and I scoff at anything that smacks of the supernatural or woo-hoo New Equally thrilling has been seeing plants in the Age quackery. But I am nevertheless convinced wild—memories I will cherish until I draw my last that gardening is enduring, meaningful, and of breath: gemlike bulbs and sheets of glowing an- supreme value, in ways that perhaps exceed our nuals in South Africa; the forest floor gilded with limited perspectives. thousands of Iris innominata in southern Oregon; cliffs in northern California turned scarlet and Beauty, variety, complexity. That’s my mantra, and azure with delphiniums; shell-pink primulas clus- that’s what gardening has given me. tered beneath a waterfall in central China.

As this snippet proves, Tom I have no doubt he will cer- is indeed well suited to tainly find and promote it. his work for Timber Press. And as you can tell, he is a To find out more about Tim- grand writer and gardener ber Press, I kindly invite you to boot! to visit their website.

His biggest search now is “what is the next thing to www.timberpress.com intrigue gardeners”.

Check out more Garden Time at www.gardentime.tv 31 Challenge Accepted

Preparing for a disaster is easy... and essential. Large water storage containers make it easier to

home have as much as you need in an emergency. by Jeff Gustin 3232 For many years I was a volun- How do you start? Take simple containers with regular tap teer with the local Red Cross steps. Commercially bottled water and seal them with the chapter. One of my duties was water is one of the safest forms original lid or cap. Then write to give presentations about di- of saving water, but you can get the date you filled the contain- saster preparedness. Part of around the expense of bottled er with a sharpie or grease pen that talk was about putting to- water if you buy ‘food grade’ on the container. You can use gether a 72 hour kit that would containers for storage. This this date to drain and refill the help you survive the first 3 could be large water containers container every six months to days of a disaster. The main that are used for camping or keep your supplies fresh. We three items we focused on dur- even soda containers. The Red like to check our supplies every ing our talks was food, water Cross recommends that you time there is a time change. and shelter. Part of that equa- don’t use old fruit juice or milk When you are setting your tion was water and we recom- containers since they are hard clocks forward or backward, mended three gallons of water to purify and you could get bac- you should replace your water. per person. That is one gallon, teria growth. You can fill clean If you forget to drain your wa- per person, per day. Those first three days were considered the critical time for a person to sur- vive until emergency services could respond. If there is one thing we have learned about the recent hurricane season, three days is not enough! We live in an earthquake zone and experts agree that we are a lit- tle overdue for a larger earth- quake in the Pacific Northwest. If there is a major event, we will need to be prepared for us, our families and possibly even our neighbors!

This past summer we were do- ing a story with Bonnie from the Regional Water Providers Consortium and she introduced us to the 14 Gallon Challenge. This takes that previous rule about water storage and ex- pands it to a two week time- line. Having 14 days of water is not a bad idea at all. Water is the one thing that is critical for survival. We all use water for drinking and food prep, but also for cleaning and sanita- tion. With all that demand for water it is important that we have plenty. That is why Or- egon Public Broadcasting and the RWPC teamed up for the 14 Gallon Challenge. The partner- ship started in 2016, but the You can save money by using old water or information is timely for any soda bottles for emergency water storage. month or year.

Check out more Garden Time at www.gardentime.tv 33 ter, or you want to be sure that it is purified, you can also store a small bottle of bleach next to your supply. Add 16 drops (1/8 teaspoon) of bleach per gallon of water, stir and let stand for 30 minutes. The water should have a slight bleach odor. If it doesn’t, then repeat the dos- age and let stand another 15 minutes. You can write this formula on top of your con- tainer too. Do not use scented bleaches, colorsafe bleaches, or bleaches with added clean- ers. Plus, only use the emer- gency bleach when you need to use your supply. Bleach weak- ens over time and if you add it when you refill your contain- ers, it may not be as effective if there is an emergency months later. Then find a cool, dark place that you can easily ac- cess in an emergency and store your containers there. Make sure that everyone in your fam- ily knows where the supply is located, and don’t forget about extra water for your pets.

Preparing for a disaster is es- sential and easy. Follow these simple examples and you can Purchasing pre-bottled water is a quick and be prepared for any disaster easy way to create an emergency reserve. for you and your family!

Proper storage is essential for keeping your emergency supplies potable.

34 Keep some chlorine bleach in your kit to purify your water supply, if needed.

For more information check out:

Garden Time story on the 14 Gallon Challenge https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=ttS_0TiI_fY

(note that the ‘selfie’ con- test is no longer in effect)

Tips from FEMA and The American Red Cross

https://www.redcross.org/ images/MEDIA_CustomPro- ductCatalog/m4440181_ Food_and_Water-English. revised_7-09.pdf

The 14 Gallon Challenge

http://www.regionalh2o. org/14Gallons

Check out more Garden Time at www.gardentime.tv 35 W T D I T G Welcome to 2018! In January, the air is crisp and cold, the decorations are put away, and there is a distinct lull after the craziness of the holidays. There’s no better time to get outside for some fresh air and daylight... and begin your garden’s best year ever! PLANNING

• Create a garden journal for future reference of or ‘chopping the branches back’. Again, do some what worked best, where and when. Consider us- research first so you won’t be sorry later! ing a 3-ring binder so you can tab the months and years and add more pages where needed. • Plan the vegetable garden. January through March is a great time to get the planning done. • Create a pruning calendar Create your ‘garden map’ with a crop rotation plan so you can ‘Prune according set on paper. Figure the dimensions, number of to what the plants needs are’. rows, planting dates, etc. Do a bit of research first to see how and when to prune your It’s fun to look back plants this year and you won’t on these notes be disappointed. Many mistakes to see what was can be stopped before the dam- planted and when, age is done if a little reading what was a great takes place first. For instance on hydrangeas; cut success and what back only the stems that had blossoms last year. was not so great. The flowers for this year are going to come from Mark this as 2018 the stems that grew up last year but did not have Map so you can blooms on them. As a general rule, most flower- rotate crops around ing plants will perform best if you prune them after next year. Rotating they flower. Fruit trees, shade and flowering trees your crops discour- can be pruned this month, but next month will be ages disease and better. Thinning cuts are better than heading cuts insects.

PLANTING

• Plant Perennials. Get them time will allow the plant greater • Plant Primroses. Every Janu- planted soon for best blooming strength to take on summer’s ary, nurseries bring out their display later this summer and heat later. If you are unable to spring crop of primroses. Use fall. plant the trees as soon as you dark weather feed to keep them get them, ‘heel’ them into the blooming strong. • Plant some garden soil on a temporary basis bare root (just bury the roots into soil to fruit trees. keep them moist) until you can The sooner plant properly, but do get them they can be into their permanent space in the planted the garden as soon as possible. better the root devel- • Plant any tree or shrub now opment will that you’d like to add to your be before the trees leaf out this landscape. Early planting makes spring. More roots grown at this for a stronger start this spring. wtditg

3636 What To Do In The Garden JANUARY TASKS, MAINTENANCE & CLEAN-UP

• There is still time left to clean new growth starts in spring, the • Water any plants that are Mason Bee cocoons, but not older foliage falls off and leaves underneath the overhang of the much! This will be the last month the tree looking half naked. house or under wide growing ev- to be able to clean things up be- Spraying them off with a hard ergreens, where soil can become fore the bees emerge late Febru- stream of water will usually do quite dry. ary or early March. the trick but insect sprays for aphids can be used too, according • Recycle to directions. your old cut Christmas tree • Get after any by cutting it weeds that are up and using growing in the the boughs to gardens now. cover cut back Early removal perennials and will be easier any other frost sensitive plants. if smothered first with • Peach trees: Spray by mid Jan- layers of newspaper covered in uary for peach leaf curl. Use la- compost. beled product for this disease like Bonide’s Fungonil or Lilly Miller’s • Mulch the beds with a new layer Microcop. If weather is cool and of organic compost, bark or other wet spray 2-3 more times at 3-4 mulch. week intervals. • Dormant spray the fruit trees • Check your Blue Spruce for with horticultural Spray Oil to kill aphids! Most winters around here overwintering insects and their the spruce aphid attacks the Blue eggs. Use the Bonide Copper and Alberta Spruce trees. They Fungicide spray or dust, (cop- suck on the juices on the prior per sulfate) as a disease control season’s needles and when the spray now.

VEGETABLE GARDEN

• Plant early veggies like rad- driven into the ground. ishes, peas, onion sets and fava beans. Start seeds indoors for • Monitor garden soil tempera- leeks, lettuce, arugula, endive ture to see what you can plant and onions. and when. On the next page is a handy chart of popular veggies • Cover your early crops with and what soil temperatures are Harvest Guard row cover for ideal for them to germinate from best protection from cold and seed, or best soil temperature insect attack. You can make a movable frame to for transplanting young plant attach Harvest Guard to with PVC pipe and rebar starts out.

Check out more Garden Time at www.gardentime.tv 37 Soil Temperatures Ideal for Growing Vegetables

Will Ideal Transplant Vegetable Germinate Germination Seedlings Out Asparagus 50F-90F 70F Beans 60F-90F 80F Beats 40F-90F 80F Broccoli 40F-90F 80F 50F Cabbage 40F-90F 80F 45F Cantaloupe 60F-100F 90F 65F Carrot 40F-90F 80F Cauliflower 40F-90F 80F Celery 40F-80F 70F 45F Chard 40F-90F 80F Corn 50F-100F 80F 60F Cucumber 60F-100F 90F 63F Endive 40F-75F 75F Fava Beans 40F-65F 50F Lettuce 40F-75F 75F Okra 60F-100F 90F 70F Onion 40F-100F 90F 45F Parsley 40F-90F 80F Parsnip 40F-90F 70F Peas 40F-80F 70F 45F Peppers 60F-90F 80F 65F Pumpkin 60F-100F 90F 65F Radish 40F-90F 80F Spinach 40F-80F 75F Squash 60F-100F 90F 65F Tomato 50F-100F 80F 60F Watermelon 60F-110F 90F 65F 38 Transplant Seedlings Out

Check out more Garden Time at www.gardentime.tv 39 PLAY TIME Gardening Events Around Town

Kid’s Club: Create an Indoor Terrarium payable at the register before class. Saturday, January 6, 2018 • 11:00am(W) Saturday, January 13, 2018 • 11:00am(S) Portland Nursery Annual Houseplant Sale Saturday, January 20, 2018 • 11:00am(G) January 11-24, 2018 • Store Hours Saturday, January 27, 2018 • 11:00am(V) Portland Nursery (Division & Stark), Portland, OR Al's Garden & Home, Woodburn, Sherwood, Gresham, We call January Indoor Gardening Month and at Port- Wilsonville(V), OR land Nursery, you'll find the biggest selection of house- Create a mini garden to enjoy and care for indoors. plants around! 30% off all houseplants and decorative These beautiful little gardens will be created with an pots. Purchase a plant and a pot and get a free Pot- assortment of houseplants and/or succulents. We will Up! Indoor gardening classes all month long. See the add the finishing touches with some surprise accents... Houseplant Sale Page for images from previous years come to class to discover more. www.alsgardencen- or go to our Houseplant Page for more general infor- ter.com mation.

What to Do in the January Vegetable Garden Houseplant Basics Saturday, January 6, 2018 • 11:00am-12:30pm Saturday, January 13, 2018 • 11:00am-12:30pm Portland Nursery (Division), Portland, OR Portland Nursery (Division), Portland, OR With Robyn Streeter of Your Backyard Farmer. Join With Ann Patterson. Learn how to pick the right plant Robyn for a great refresher on what to do in the veggie for the different rooms in your home or office and get garden for the month of January. They will cover top- ideas for the best selections for your different indoor ics such as seeding and planting cool season crops, environments. Ann will explain low light vs. high light, preparing and improving your soils, and how to be best watering and fertilizing tips, and how to troubleshoot prepared for the spring! common houseplant issues so you are more confident in greening up your indoor space. Garden Science: Basics in Soil Science Sunday, January 7, 2018 • 1:00pm Sprouts and Microgreens Portland Nursery (Stark), Portland, OR Saturday, January 13, 2018 • 1:00pm With Katie Davis of Portland Nursery. Get started under- Portland Nursery (Stark), Portland, OR standing the basic concepts of soil and science and With Farmer Dan Bravin. The veggie garden may be how to apply it to your garden. This class will cover a slowed down for the winter, but you can still grow su- broad introduction to soil classification as well as how per-nutritious and tasty vegetables – inside. Come join to identify key characteristics in your own garden bed. Farmer Dan for an informative seminar and demonstra- tion on growing sprouts and microgreens for your kitch- Starting Vegetables Early: Part 1 en, and some to share with your indoor animal friends. Sunday, January 7, 2018 • 1:00pm-2:30pm Portland Nursery (Division), Portland, OR Intro to Cacti and Succulents With Marc Scheidecker. What are the benefits? Well, Saturday, January 13, 2018 • 1:00pm-2:30pm if you were a bird you'd get the worm, for one! Other Portland Nursery (Division), Portland, OR benefits that come from starting early are that some With Jason Dennis. Curious about the wonderful world plants really like cold weather, and starting early trans- of cacti and succulents but unsure how to care for lates to harvesting earlier and therefore freeing up your these unique and drought tolerant gems? In this class space for your next crop. A win-win season to season. Portland Nursery houseplant buyer Jason will survey dif- This class will focus on propagation instruction and in- ferent varieties of these plants, talk about their specific clude a hands-on activity allowing you to carry away lighting, fertilizing, and soil needs, and discuss solutions two pots with seed already planted! $5 materials fee, to common cactus and succulent problems. continued next column continued next page 40 Repotting Houseplants: Tips and Demo you will see kadomatsu affixed to the pillars. This small Sunday, January 14, 2018 • 11:00am-12:30pm decorative display of pine branches and bamboo is Portland Nursery (Division), Portland, OR where the toshigami (the god of incoming year) is said With Cait Deever. Perplexed by how to tell when it’s to manifest himself, serving as the intermediary through time to repot your houseplants? Cait from Portland which good health and prosperity for the coming year Nursery will offer tips on how to tell when they’re ready will flow. Included with Garden Admission. www.japa- to move to a bigger container, what size pot to use, nesegarden.org and demonstrate repotting techniques so you can help your indoor buddies stretch out in comfort in their Wine & Workshop Wednesday: Mason Jar Orchids new homes. Wednesday, January 17, 2018(W,S) Wednesday, January 24, 2018(G,V) Houseplants for the Black of Thumb Al's Garden & Home, Woodburn, Sherwood, Gresham, Sunday, January 14, 2018 • 1:00pm Wilsonville(V), OR Portland Nursery (Stark), Portland, OR The long-lasting blooms of the orchid are a lovely touch With Sean Gilman of Portland Nursery. Want to adopt to any home. This fun twist on a terrarium will add a little some green home companions, but afraid of commit- bit of whimsy to your personal tiny orchid. We will be ting planticide? Worried that you’re just not a plant per- using a kokedama method for planting a tiny orchid son, even though you want to be? Sean can help you in a mason jar, making this an easy-care project that get over the hurdle of the first successful houseplant, you will be able to enjoy during these dreary months. going over how to know which plants will survive in the 21 and over only, please. Cost: $40, includes supplies, conditions you have to offer. Basic care, site selection, plants, expert instruction, local wine, and a light meal. simple troubleshooting, and recommended plants will be featured in this workshop. Bonsai Class: Topic TBA Saturday, January 20, 2018 - 11:00am Kokedama Workshop Tsugawa Nursery, Woodland, WA Sunday, January 14, 2018 • 1:00pm-2:30pm Portland Nursery (Division), Portland, OR Join us and learn about this fun, relaxing and artistic With Jess Fancon. Make your own kokedama with Jess hobby. All levels are invited. We look forward to seeing from Portland Nursery . Kokedama roughly translates you! A fee for materials may be added once topic is from Japanese to mean “moss ball,” which describes determined. Call us for more information. www.tsuga- the technique of wrapping of the plant’s roots and wanursery.com soil in moss and artistically tying this bundle with wire or string. Either hung from a ceiling or shelf or set on a Orchids 101 tray, kokedama is a beautiful and space saving way Saturday, January 20, 2018 • 11:00am-12:30pm to display houseplants. Learn how to create one in this Portland Nursery (Division), Portland, OR class and go home with tips on how to care for your With Jason Dennis. Have you always wanted to grow new creation. $20 fee, payable at register day of class. orchids? Is your orchid getting too cramped but you don’t know how to repot it? Have you struggled to get O-Shogatsu, Japanese New Year your orchid to rebloom? Learn the basics of growing Sunday, January 14, 2018 • Gardem Hours different orchid varieties from Portland Nursery house- Portland Japanese Garden, Portland, OR plant buyer Jason. He will discuss proper growing me- On January 14, we invite you to celebrate O-Shogatsu diums, fertilizer, light and water requirements, growth at the Garden. Festivities will include an authentic tea habits, and will do a live repotting demonstration. He ceremony, calligraphy demonstration, and koto harp will help you figure out how to select an orchid that’s performance. Take a stroll around the Garden where right for your home or office to maximize your success. continued next column continued on next page Check out more Garden Time at www.gardentime.tv 41 PLAY TIME Gardening Events Around Town (continued)

Top 10 Orchid Myths Sunday, January 21, 2018 • 1:00pm Saturday • January 20 • 1:00pm Portland Nursery (Stark), Portland, OR Portland Nursery (Stark), Portland, OR With Katie Davis of Portland Nursery. With Sue Volek of the Oregon Orchid Society. There's Soil supports life! This means your garden and all the lots of tips out there about growing orchids. Some are critters that come with it. Come get a peek into build- true and some are false. This talk will debunk some of ing the habitat for the life that will support you and your the misperceptions about these beautiful plants and garden. give you the bottom line on how to select, grow, and bloom the easiest orchid plants. Sue Volek has been Plants of Prey growing orchids for almost 20 years. A journalist and Sunday, January 21, 2018 • 1:00pm-2:30pm communications person during the day, she would Portland Nursery (Division), Portland, OR come home and tend her plants at night until they took With Ann Patterson. Sundews, Pitcher plants, and Ve- over not only the kitchen, but the living room, dining nus flytraps- have you loved them since you werea room, and encroached on the rest of the house. Her kid? Carnivorous plants aren’t hard to grow indoors or current favorites are slipper orchids, but since she never out, but they have different requirements than most met an orchid she didn't like, Sue has an array of plants plants. Learn about their unusual adaptations, how to from asocendas to zygopetalums. She is president of care for them, and even which are best for controlling the Oregon Orchid Society. which kind of insect.

Make Your Own Mixed Cacti Dish The Joriad™ North American Truffle Dog Championship Saturday, January 20, 2018 • 1:00pm-2:30pm Thursday, January 25, 2018 Portland Nursery (Division), Portland, OR Lane County Fairgrounds, Eugene, OR With Roby Babcock and Jess Fancon. Create your own Watch and experience some of the world’s most tal- personal desert oasis with Portland nursery employees, ented truffle dogs as they compete in the 4th annual Jess, container crafting queen, and Roby, cacti ex- Joriad™ Truffle Dog Championship. The Joriad™ be- pert and landscape architect. First they will provide an gins in the morning with a series of qualifying events overview of different common kinds of cacti and how where spectators can cheer-on the teams as they race to care for these plants. Then they will guide the group to search for hidden truffle-scented targets. Finalists through a creative hour of selecting, arranging, and are announced at the end of the morning’s qualifying planting cacti in a terra cotta pot to display indoors in events. a sunny spot. All materials provided. Cost: $30, pay at register on day of class. Class size limited to 15. 13th Annual Oregon Truffle Festival January 26-28, 2018 Repotting Houseplants: Tips and Demo Various Venues in Eugene, OR Sunday, January 21, 2018 • 11:00am-12:30pm A truffle extravaganza! The 13th annual Oregon Truffle Portland Nursery (Division), Portland, OR Festival has four elegant and unique weekend expe- With Patty Heurich. Perplexed by how to tell when it’s riences to offer: The Epicurious, The Gourmand, The time to repot your houseplants? Patty from Portland Truffle Growers All-In Adventure, and, back by popular Nursery will offer tips on how to tell when they’re ready demand, The Urban Forager. A la carte events include to move to a bigger container, what size pot to use, Thursday’s Joriad™ Truffle Dog Championship, Friday’s and demonstrate repotting techniques so you can LCC Cooking Class, the 2nd annual Oregon Truffle help your indoor buddies stretch out in comfort in their MacDown, Saturday’s Grand Truffle Dinner, and Sun- new homes. day’s Fresh Truffle Marketplace.

Garden Science: The Soil Food Web As always, there will be new events, new venues, and continued next column continued next page 42 new faces to help us celebrate Oregon truffles, culinary winter health support. We’ll focus on herbs to stay warm tradition, and the best of Oregon wine. oregontruffle- in the cold months and plant allies to support immunity. festival.org Students will leave with abundant ideas of how to keep themselves warm and well this winter. Fruit Tree Pruning Basics Saturday, January 27, 2018 • 10:00am Starting Vegetables Early: Part 2 Al's Garden & Home, Sherwood & Woodburn, OR Sunday, January 28, 2018 • 11:00am-12:30pm Pruning fruit trees correctly can increase your harvest Portland Nursery (Division), Portland, OR and improve tree health. In this class, you'll learn the With Marc Scheidecker. Come on in! It's time to start! basic steps on how to prune fruit trees. Whether your In this second class on starting your seeds early we will trees are young or old, they'll benefit from proper prun- cover more material on propagation and also com- ing. Registration is encouraged, but not required. plete another hands on project starting two more kinds of seeds. With these two classes you will be off to a Introduction to Feng Shui good start! We will also distribute more charts on how Saturday, January 27, 2018 • 11:00am-12:30pm temperature, light, ventilation, and other variables af- Portland Nursery (Division), Portland, OR fect seed propagation. With Miyoko Fuse. This workshop is designed to introduce you to Feng Shui, particularly to help you to understand Indoor Herb Gardening the balance of home environment with regard to Chi, Saturday, January 28, 2018 • 1:00pm atmospheric energy, and the type of plants to use. You Portland Nursery (Stark), Portland, OR will learn the basics of Chi and Yin Yang dualism. You With Laura Altvater of Portland Nursery will also learn how to create positive Chi flowing by Don’t have much room outside? Dream of having fresh placing certain types of plants in a space with different herbs at your fingertips in the kitchen year-round? This kinds of furniture, lighting, décor, or colors. class will highlight which culinary herbs are easiest in- doors and what supplies you will need to be successful. Planning your Personal Paradise Saturday, January 27, 2018 • 1:00pm Staghorn Fern Mounting Workshop Portland Nursery (Stark), Portland, OR Sunday, January 28, 2018 • 1:00pm-2:30pm With Magi Treece of Living Structures. Beginner garden- Portland Nursery (Division), Portland, OR ers, get your dreaming kicked in gear! It may be too With Bruce Fothergill of Fothergill’s Tropicals cold and wet to dig, but that’s just what makes it a Join houseplant expert Bruce for this hands-on work- good time to get your planning done so you can have shop and take home your very own mounted stag- a beautiful outside living space. Learn to take your horn fern! Bruce will walk you through the step-by-step desires for what your space should be and map them process of properly mounting staghorns to wooden onto the place you have. Magi will teach you how to boards. He will also discuss proper care, lighting and map your garden, observe sun and water patterns, growing requirements to keep your fern healthy and and other important skills to get your garden plan off happy for years to come! Fee: $17.50, payable to in- to a strong start! structor on day of class. Class size limited to 20.

Winter Wellness Saturday, January 27, 2018 • 1:00pm-2:30pm LOOKING FOR MORE? Portland Nursery (Division), Portland, OR You will find more events and updated With Missy Rohs, from Arctos School. Join herbalist Missy information on the Garden Time Events Calendar Rohs of the Arctos School to learn about easy to grow www.gardentime.tv/events.htm garden plants and commonly found kitchen herbs for continued next column Check out more Garden Time at www.gardentime.tv 43 44